ITP – Page 6 – phil caridi

March 15, 2021

Proposal for a midterm

Thoughts of isolation and separation stir on this day, 40 revolutions around our sun. This doesn’t really change anything although it does make me reflect on time itself. For my midterm my intention is to play with the feeling of time through sound and video.

I have recorded the words “isolation”, “distance”, “separation”, and “time” and have started the process of manipulating them in Audacity. Trying to remove the meaning from the word by altering the sound and in some cases making the sounds unrecognizable as words. The intention is to be able to play back the newly creates sounds at varying speeds to change the feeling of time associated with it.

These new sounds will be played with video of past memories, a collection or catalogue of images in from my life. Using Runwayml the hope is to again distort the images to the blurred realization of a memory. Hopefully the combination of sound and images will produce some kind of time dysphoria.

Volume UP

March 14, 2021

It costs what?!?, to run a server.

The TL;DR of it all is about $21.00 a month. Now the questions really is how did I get to that number. I bought a BN-LINK WiFi Heavy Duty Smart Plug Outlet. This has a pretty rudimentary app but it was enough to give me that data that I needed. Unfortunately gathering the data had to be done manually and methodically. There is no way to transfer real-time data, it gives a momentary glimpse of what is happening when the app is open. So I set a schedule and took a screenshot when I opened the app top track the data. A classmate of mine, Brandon Roots and I were talking about this issue. He did a tremendous amount of research regarding these issues. He was able to hack the plug and flash new code to it. This enabled him to gain access to real-time granular data. Please take a few minutes and head over to his blog post for a very detailed set of instructions, https://brandonroots.com/2021/03/11/measurement-project/.

The app I use did give daily usage in kWh in a graph format which allowed me to check the accuracy of the data I was recording through my screenshot process. Below are the screenshots from my process

Image Courtesy of Amazon

After 11 days of collecting data I took to a spree sheet to calculate and make a few observations. The above visualization shows a few different pieces of data. Daily kWh represented in purple hexagons, notice this starts of being higher than the Running Total kWh which is represented by the orange hexagons. Daily Data Server is in green and just for comparison Daily Data Workstation (the workstation was on a different plug). I was seeing very little variation for the server’s daily kWh draw so I decided to test if the load of the server contributed to the energy draw. For this test I increased the load on the server by running a full system backup of the workstation with one, two, and three different HD videos being streamed through a PLEX media server to three different devices. Surprisingly the daily kWh didn’t really change but the current draw did. Under normal operation the server was drawing never more than 991 mA however, under the load the draw increased to 1039 mA. What I did find out is that my workstation can draw up to 1300 mA while preforming graphic (rendering) heavy tasks, thankfully I don’t have my workstation running 24/7.

So back to the first line of this blog, it costs about $21.00 a month to run the server. The cost to build the server was about 3k, and I’ve needed to replace one of the hard disks a year since I built it in 2014 to the tune of about $100 a piece. So it can get a little pricey BUT I have approximately 64 TiB of usable space with dual redundancy, in contrast that would cost about $10,000 a year with a service provided by a very large company that sells lots of good online…

Raw data below.

March 5, 2021

A Tangible Interaction

This is the 3Dconnexion Space Mouse, there are a few different versions of this product. In its most basic form this is joystick that lets the user change the view of CAD and 3D modeling programs. Unlike many joysticks on the market the knob pivots on a ball joint at the top of the upright instead of at the bottom. This gives the interaction a more granular feeling. The movements have be very precise and as the the user zooms into the model the action of moving the knob becomes more sensitive. It is very much a direct connection the the modeling space making it easier to navigate around the model. It has a return-to-center design and has a fair amount of resistance to the movements. There are two quick access programable buttons locates on the silver ring under where the pinky and thumb rests. The design is ambidextrous by nature of the location of the buttons and the symmetry of the device.

The .gif attempts to show the physical connection to the digital environment. The knob at the top dose note rotate 360 degrees instead it has about 3 degrees of rotation, it also pivots 360 degrees, can move perpendicular to the base about 5mm of travel, and slide parallel to the base about 5mm as well. This seems like very limited amount of movement however, the longer the user holds the knob in a given direction the further the view of the model moves or rotates.

The controls are best described by the advance settings box of the 3Dconnexion software. The illustrations show the different movements that the knob moves. The combination of software and the physical device make this an interesting and very useable device. There are other devices like this on the market aimed at making an all digital experience something that is physically and tangible..

March 4, 2021

Too Cute?

I’m not really sure what I have done here. Cute? Horror? Bazar? I really don’t know. My wife walked by as I was making this image and her response was “Ewww!! What the hell is that?!?!” To which I responded “Isn’t it cute?”, she walked away. The oversized respirator adds to the horror aspect of the image, the large eyes that have a very fuzzy or milky quality to them, the pupil formed only partially all at to the uneasy feeling I get when I look at it. Big eyes are cute right? Like many of Mark Ryden’s paintings….wait, are those cute , or just creepy??

This image may haunt me and when I send it to my brother, the photo of is his son, he most certainly will never forgive me. But on some level isn’t that the point? To create work that challenges the viewer in some way, to make the viewer walk away and think about it and at some point in the future return to the mental image.

Is it worse to view the image as an on looker or be the image’s creator? After all you know what went into making it, but it does ask questions about how and why your creative process led you to the outcome. I will probably put this image deep within my archives so I don’t accidently come upon it.

March 1, 2021

Pendulight,…we have a problem

A quality control check of the parts reveled issues with the two aluminum parts. More details on that later in this post.

3D printed plumb base, printed solid for durability and weight.

3D printed plumb top, printed solid for durability and weight.

3D printed combination pcb mount and battery holder.

Extension arm, CNC milled 6061-al, at first glance part looked to bein spec.

Pillow Arm arm, CNC milled 6061-al, at first glance part looked to bein spec.

During the tapping process it seemed the the hole was not perpendicular to the arm face.

After tapping and assembly the mis-machining was confirmed.

Red lines show misalignment.

The misalignment between the arms causes the tension of the bearings to be very off creating binding for half of the rotation and looseness on the other half of the rotation.

I will be contacting the machining service for replacement. In the event that the parts can’t be replaced this design allows for the use of the only the extension arm however, the desired compound rotation will be lost.

February 28, 2021

Keyswitch Ongoing Research

Description

Keyswitches are at the heart of one of the most used human input devices, the keyboard. They are produced in a number of different form factors and styles. When the keycap is depressed the keyswitch presses into a pcb located below it, which in turn completes a circuit sending an electrical impulse to the device resulting in the predetermined action. These keyswitches preform the same type of action that a momentary, non-latching, switch preforms. The basic action is a temporary state change.

Data sheets

Link to folder containing all the datasheets for the given keyswitches

Basic information of from the datasheet

Switching Voltage 12V AC/DC max – 2V AC/DC min
Switching Current 10mA AC/DC max – 10µA min
Insulation Resistance 100MΩ/DC 500V
Withstand Voltage 100V AC 1 minute
Dielectric Strength 500V 50Hz
Actuation Force 45cN-95cN

Example Uses

The keyswitch is first and foremost design to use in keyboards. Most have a fast response time and because of the pcb and firmware used often times multiple keypresses from different keys at the same time still register. although these keyswitches are predominantly found in keyboards the possibilities for use in other areas is quite broad. There are some mice on the market that use these type of switches for under the two main left and right buttons. Furthermore there are many different types of keyswitches in terms of feel, clicky, quiet, tactile, and are also available with different actuation force.

Strengths and Weaknesses

The major weakness of all keyswitches on the market today is the need for a specific pbc ,layout and the need for a specific housing. The size of most keyswitches has been somewhat standardized over the past few years however, the pcb layout and interface have not.

Example Circuit Schematic

Example diagram of Cherry MX Red switch linear actuation no sound.

Example diagram, Cherry MX Blue Tactile and Audible

Example Microcontroller Code

One way to use a keyswitch is as a momentary switch, thusly an code that would take advantage of a momentary switch for a state change will work. {INSERT CODE HERE). The other way is to use it with this code(INSERT CODE HERE) and a keyboard library or firmware like QMK.

Citations

February 28, 2021

through

awakened from a dream,…no a nightmare,…or a thought I’m not really sure, in a place familiar and alien at the same time…my room, lived in, but not by me…the door before me is open…i move through it…the space seems to shift around me as i proceed inward…till the space is completely unrecognizable as anything familiar…the longer i move…the stranger and less finite the spaces become…morphing…changing…unstructured…in the end i am standing…alone…on a street..i don’t know…in a body i don’t yet recognize…

February 18, 2021

Read the Heads

My bloodline flows from Sicily, both sides of my family are Sicilian, all of them. Stregheria is the term used for witchcraft in Italy. My mother has always said that she is a witch, and I have always believed her. Many times a child I would find piles of salt outside of doors and windows, I was told that was the remains of evil trying to enter the house. To this day I’m not sure if that was my mom’s ploy to keep us kids from reeking havoc in the house or if it was evil actually being stopped form entering the house. Either way I still have a propensity to believe that it was evil being stopped. Over the years my sense that witch’s blood flows through my veins has become more and more vivid.

Fava beans are said to carry a great deal of luck and were used much like tea leaves, bones, or dust for reading the future path of an inquiring person. Fava beans have a very distinct look light reddish-brown in color with a very dark brown small line at one end.

Heads are all over the place in Sicily. The most prominent is on the Sicilian flag. The head of Medusa sits in the center of the flag, an amulet guarding from bad luck symbolizing a mistrust of fate. The whole symbol referred to as a Trinacria, was often used to ward off evil from homes usually placed behind doors so the evil would turn to stone before entering.

The other head found with ease in Sicily is the Moorish Head, usually made of ceramic and extravagantly decorated. The lore behind these heads varies but generally follows a tail similar to this excerpt from Times of Sicily:

The original folk tale behind the ceramic heads comes from Palermo and tells of a Saracen merchant who falls in love with a beautiful local girl. Together they start a passionate love affair, until the girl discovers her lover has a wife and children waiting for him in his homeland. In a fit of jealously and rage she murders him in his sleep, cutting off his head, so that her lover would stay with her forever. The girl uses the head as a vase to grow a beautiful basil plant. Others seeing her flourishing plant, forge themselves the colourful clay head pots in an attempt to recreate the bountiful fertility.
Full text here https://www.timesofsicily.com/truth-behind-sicilian-ceramic-moorish-heads/

So when it came time to create an artwork while using a a divination practice I took the ideas from Sicilian heritage and my obsession with action figures and combined them to create a new divination practice that ultimately became the artwork itself. A series of 13 photos were taken of 14 heads. Each toss of the heads yields a different random pattern form the heads. I then layered these photos and applied a variety of transformations to achieve a series of gifs. Here are the original 13 photos without any editing.

February 16, 2021

Component Report: Keyswitches

Original image from https://www.instagram.com/keys.witches/

Key board switches, or keyswitches as the industry call them, have become somewhat of trend as of late. Most of us have used a keyboard, some of us have thought about what makes a keyboard appealing, and probably fewer have really thought about how a keyboard works and why it feels the way it does. Keyboard customization and small batch manufacturing have given light to a great number of choices within the keyswitch market. This trend or fad, dare I say, has gotten to the point that humans are making artwork based on keyswitches.

In this sensor report I will attempt to make a physical device that shows the physical interface between both the user and the electronics of a keyswitch. As well as addressing the common misconceptions, uses, basic technology, and the steadily growing number of manufacturers.

There are many different types of keyswitches so many so that there is very robust resource located at https://deskthority.net/, here you find lots information about keyboards in general and even information on modding however, what is missing is very specific information regarding how to use the keyswitch outside of normal use cases. The keyswitch itself is such an interesting component with a varied array of feel, form factor, and electrical requirements its very easy to see that there are many more uses than just a keyboard. In doing this sensor report my hope is that others will see what “outside-of-the-board” thinking looks like in regard to keyswitches.

This post is the first in a multi-part series about the keyswitch. The series will document research, testing, and fabrication for a device that will live on the ITP floor at NYU. Ideas and comments are welcome and I will try to incorporate as many suggestions as possible.

For now I will leave you with a images showing some types of keyswitches.